New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Vikramjit Sahney on Monday demanded that Punjab should be immediately included in the Atal Bhujal Yojana for sustainable groundwater management.
Sahney said Punjab contributes “47 per cent of wheat and 21 per cent of rice to the Central pool. So it is extracting excess water from the ground to ensure food security of the country and in the process Punjab is facing ground water depletion and deterioration.”
The Minister of Jal Shakti informed the House that Punjab had not fulfilled the criteria for the Atal Bhujal Yojana and the state government should answer in this regard.
Responding to the Jal Shakti Minister, MP Sahney gave a guarantee on the floor of the House that Punjab has complied with all the parameters of the scheme and even the incentivisation scheme for bridging the irrigation gap is pending for launch by the Central government which would address Punjab’s groundwater issues.
Sahney added that Punjab’s groundwater utilisation “stands at 164 per cent and levels could drop below 1, 000 feet by 2039.”
He also expressed concern over the delay in implementation of the master plan for artificial recharge of groundwater.
Shesh Paul Vaid, a former Director-General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, has claimed that a significant number of commandos from Pakistan’s Special Service Group (SSG) have infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir to engage in a covert war with the Indian Army. Vaid’s assertion appears to echo the claims of Amjad Ayub Mirza, an who resides in Britain.
While police sources acknowledge that dozens of Pakistani militants have crossed into India, particularly into the Jammu region this year, they have dismissed Vaid’s claim of a large-scale infiltration by SSG commandos.
Vaid, who served as the DGP of Jammu and Kashmir from 2016 to 2018 made the statement in a video. He cited unnamed sources and claimed that Adil Rahmani, the GOC of the SSG commandos, is orchestrating the operations. According to Vaid, around 600 SSG commandos have been earmarked for this mission, with many already infiltrated and more attempting to do so.
“This is an act of war intended to fully engage the 15 Corps and 16 Corps based in Kashmir and Jammu,” Vaid stated. He also mentioned the involvement of a Lt Colonel Shahid Saleem of Pakistan Army, allegedly directing operations and activating local sleeper cells.
In a later post, Vaid partially revised his statement, indicating that only a few SSG commandos had infiltrated, with more expected to follow. He urged India to prepare for a prolonged conflict.
Mirza had earlier claimed that a whole SSG battalion, comprising at least 600 commandos, had infiltrated the Kupwara region and other areas.
Kavita Sharma, a well known journalist from broadcast and print media has won Association of Apartment [AAO] board member election from Kosmos society situated at Jaypee Wishtown, sector 134, Noida, Uttar Pradesh. AAO elections at Kosmos, which were held second time after two and a half year on 27& 28th July this month, has never seen any journalist residing in the society contesting and winning elections. This is the first time that Kavita Sharma, a journalist from Kosmos, where many journalists from print and Electronic media reside, contested and won election from Helping Hands group with good margin of votes. Kavita stands third amongst the nine board members who are elected for the period of one year.
Kavita Sharma
“ Initially I was not interested in contesting the election. Neither I have any political background nor any political ambition. It was all because of some active members of my society, like Pushkar Singh, Alok Sharma, Naveen Kumar, Prabodh Shukla, including Kalpana and Sunil Bhardwaj from Helping Hands who convinced me to contest election, Kavita said while talking to Tehelka. She further described her victory as a huge responsibility on her shoulder to work for the betterment of her Kosmos society.
Kosmos was burstling with Election activities for the last two months. With two groups, Helping Hands headed by Sunil Sharma, popularly known as Sunil Bhardwaj and United Kosmos Front [UKF] were in the fray. From dawn to dusk the two groups were not only campaigning on various Whatsapp groups but were also meeting residents door to door in various towers. During the campaign Helping hands team , which also won the last election, at some places faced resistance of the residents on various issues, which include the bad condition of some towers etc. Despite all this, group Helping Hand’s all nine members are elected for the second consecutive years to run the Kosmos society.
Why helping hands won AOA election for the second time in a row despite resistance from various quarters ? Kosmos resident answered this question on the condition of not revealing his name. He says that Sunil Bhardwaj’s Helping Hand has a army of volunteers who worked relentlessly during these elections. According to him the pillars of Helping Hands are Pushkar Singh, Brijesh Singh, Alok Sharma , Ankur Khanna , Ankit Bhardwaj and Nitesh Priyaranjan.
Another residents on the condition of not mentioning his name said that Kosmos society, which have a good population of Muslims, voted in large number for Sunil Bhardwaj’s Helping Hands. People like Ashfaque Ali, Rais, Imad, Mushtaq, Mujahid etc all worked to convince Muslim voters to vote for the group which will work for the betterment of the society.
Elections are over now,its time for work. Helping Hands which only have one year to prove before next year election that they can bring all the good work to the society, which include plaster and paints on the towers, which residents are eagerly waiting. UKF also have only one year to introspect what went wrong for them before they come out next year all guns blazing.
Helping Hands nine members who won elections and are now eagerly waiting to get posts are, Sunil Sharma, Ravi Shankar Kumar, Kavita Sharma, Shalini Rana, Dharmendra Kumar, Sachin Bajpai, Devendra Singh Yadav, Rahul Kumar and Asad Anwar. Out of the nine members, Shalini Rana is another woman face along with Kavita for Helping Hands.
B-38 cluster was a tough fight for Helping Hands. But according to the sources Kavita Sharma, who comes from this cluster has made the fight easy for Helping Hands. Sources revealed that Kavita even managed to get some UKF votes.
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed its chargesheet before a special court here against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others accused in the corruption case linked to the alleged liquor policy scam.
This comes as a significant move from the probe agency since the Delhi High Court is scheduled to take up the bail plea filed by CM Kejriwal on Monday for a hearing.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had already filed its prosecution complaint in connection with the money laundering case, naming Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its national convenor Arvind Kejriwal as accused.
On July 12, the Supreme Court ordered CM Kejriwal to be released on interim bail in connection with the ED case. However, he was not able to walk out of jail since he was arrested by the CBI.
Recently, a Delhi court extended, till August 8, the judicial custody of CM Kejriwal in the alleged excise policy scam.
Although rain on Monday has broken the prevailing heatwave, July witnessed the highest recorded temperatures in Kashmir Valley.
According to the meteorological office, Srinagar city recorded a high of 36.2 degrees Celsius on Sunday. This was the hottest July day since July 9, 1999, when the mercury had settled at 37 degrees Celsius. The hottest July day in Srinagar was recorded on July 10, 1946, with the mercury rising to 38.3 degrees Celsius.
The Met office has forecast a spell of rain at isolated places in the Kashmir valley over the next 24 hours, which is expected to bring down the mercury. Srinagar is currently experiencing the rain which has brought much needed relief to people.
New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu has appointed new Governors in nine states and a new Lieutenant Governor in Puducherry.
Former Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Haribhau Kisanrao Bagde has been appointed Governor of Rajasthan while former Tripura Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma has been appointed Governor of Telangana.
The President has appointed former Rajya Sabha MP Om Prakash Mathur as Governor of Sikkim.
Similarly, former Union Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar has been appointed as Governor of Jharkhand while former Lok Sabha MP from Assam Ramen Deka has been made Governor of Chhattisgarh.
Former Karnataka Minister C.H. Vijayashankar has been appointed as Governor of Meghalaya.
C.P. Radhakrishnan who is presently Governor of Jharkhand has been made Governor of Maharashtra.
Assam Governor Gulab Chand Kataria has been appointed as Governor of Punjab and Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Similarly, Sikkim Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya has been appointed as Governor of Assam and has also been given additional charge as Governor of Manipur.
Former IAS officer K. Kailashnathan has been appointed Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.
New Delhi: Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva on Sunday slammed the AAP government and held it responsible for the tragic incident at a library of a coaching centre in Rajendra Nagar which claimed the lives of three Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirants.
The students died in the flooded basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle, a popular coaching centre at Old Rajendra Nagar. The basement was flooded after heavy rain in the national capital.
Sachdeva accused the AAP government of negligence, terming the incident as a “murder, ” and blamed widespread corruption for the “unsafe” conditions in the national capital.
“How a library was operating from a basement without proper authorisation, ” he wondered.
“Does someone have answers to this?” he said.
Mounting the attack on the Delhi government, he said its previous assurances of investigating unsafe buildings following a similar incident in Mukherjee Nagar were either insufficient or nonexistent.
Sachdeva also pointed fingers at the Delhi Fire Services and the Municipal Corporation, questioning their roles and responsibilities.
Furthermore, without taking Delhi Water Minister Atishi’s name, he targeted her for not visiting the spot promptly and demanded her resignation.
He said, “Delhi Minister is yet to visit the site after so many hours of the tragedy. She has just assured investigation. What will you investigate? You should resign. You are all woven together in this whole corruption.”
He claimed that “lack of action” in addressing public concerns about uncleaned drains, contributed to the waterlogging.
“Why regional MLAs are not getting the drains cleaned? People have been demanding to get the drains cleaned for the past so many days, ” Sachdeva said.
“In only one hour of the rainfall, the entire basement was flooded, ” he said.
Demanding action against those responsible, he said, “All the elements involved in this incident should be hanged.”
New Delhi: The incident of flooding in the basement of a popular coaching centre here that claimed three lives, has garnered responses from Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and K. C. Venugopal who called the tragedy a result of “criminal negligence.”
Taking to X, Kharge, President of Indian National Congress stated: “It is very sad that three youths lost their lives due to waterlogging in the basement of an IAS coaching centre in the capital Delhi due to criminal negligence of the government and administration. Our deepest condolences to their families.”
Drawing attention to a similar recent incident, he pointed out: “Earlier, another UPSC aspirant died due to electric shock due to waterlogging in Patel Nagar. According to reports, eight people have lost their lives due to electric shock in the last few days.”
Going further, with regard to the city’s administration, he said: “Congress had made Delhi an international city. Today, the capital of India is suffering from indifference. Accidents keep happening every day.”
Highlighting the gravity of this incident taking place in the national capital, Kharge expressed: “Such an accident in the country’s capital is a matter of great concern for all of us. We have to make our capital better so that our citizens remain safe and those who live and come here have the confidence that they will not be neglected in the country’s capital.”
On the same note, Congress General Secretary and MP K. C. Venugopal, too, turned to X and shared his thoughts.
“The tragedy in a coaching centre in Old Rajender Nagar, Delhi has shaken us to the core. My sincere condolences to the families of the departed.”
He reiterated: “Three innocent students lost their lives due to absolute criminal negligence. This is not caused by a natural disaster but because of greed and indifference on the part of the authorities.”
“We demand strictest actions against all those responsible for allowing such a disaster to take place, ” he concluded.
On Saturday evening, three students died due to flood and waterlogging in the basement owing to heavy rainfall. Subsequently, students came out in protest against the “negligence” of the government.
New Delhi: Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP, Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday sent a shoe stitching machine to the cobbler he had met the previous day in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
“Yesterday, our leader Rahul Gandhi met cobbler Ram Chait in Sultanpur (UP) and learned about the details of his work. To support him, Rahul Gandhi has sent a shoe-stitching machine, which will ease his work. This gesture exemplifies Rahul Gandhi’s dedication as a leader for the people, truly a leader for everyone, ” Congress wrote on X.
The cobbler Chait Ram received a phone call in the morning notifying him that Rahul Gandhi had sent a shoe-stitching machine for him.
In the afternoon, members of Rahul Gandhi’s team arrived at the cobbler’s workshop in a police jeep to deliver the machine.
Overjoyed, Chait Ram sent two pairs of shoes to Rahul Gandhi as a gesture of thanks, according to media reports. Additionally, some experts from the team provided Chait Ram with a briefing on how to operate the machine.
On Friday, Rahul Gandhi engaged with the cobbler in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, as part of his visit related to a defamation case. The Congress MP, who was there for legal proceedings, took the opportunity to learn about the cobbler’s trade and skills.
Ram Chait, has been making footwear for over 40 years from his makeshift shop. A video of their interaction circulated online, earning praise from netizens for Gandhi’s thoughtful gesture.
This visit follows another similar event on May 15, when Gandhi visited a barber shop in Raebareli for a haircut and beard trim, inquiring about the latest haircut trends.
Last September, Gandhi made headlines for his unannounced visit to the Anand Vihar Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) in New Delhi, where he donned a coolie uniform and carried luggage on his head.
The Indian Army successfully thwarted an attack by Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT) in an encounter along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara on Saturday. The encounter resulted in the death of one soldier and left four others, including a Major, injured.
A Pakistani terrorist was also killed in the encounter.
The BAT, known for previous infiltration attempts, comprises commandos from the Pakistan Army and terrorists. The operation in Kupwara’s Kamkari area was initiated following intelligence reports about possible terrorist movements.
The injured soldiers were promptly evacuated from the site as the gunfight continued. Defence Ministry sources reported that the BAT team involved likely included regular Pakistan Army troops and SSG commandos collaborating with terrorist organizations.
The incident marks the second such encounter in Kupwara within three days. Earlier, on July 24, security forces killed an unidentified terrorist in the Lolab area of Kupwara, where a soldier also lost his life.
